


Shadows in the Candlelight

by Cornflower_Corvid



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ambiguous Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Post-Coital Cuddling, Post-Fire Emblem: Three Houses, They are married, Yurileth Week 2020, prompt: candlelight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24201466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornflower_Corvid/pseuds/Cornflower_Corvid
Summary: Yuri likes to watch Byleth, especially in the soft candlelight they prefer for an intimate atmosphere, where the light and shadows play off of Byleth's muscles very nicely. A part of him knows Byleth can tell he's watching; it's those damned mercenary instincts. But Yuri would rather pretend it's his own little secret.But of course Byleth knows.
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Shadows in the Candlelight

**Author's Note:**

> Yurileth Week 2020 - Day 1 Submission  
> Prompt: Candlelight  
> Rating: T
> 
> Well, the current world situation has left me with a lot of free time, so I will gladly attempt to show my love for my current favourite ship by taking on the challenge of writing eight fics. It's not easy, but I'm getting it done.
> 
> Fun fact: six of my eight fics can be seen as taking place in the same continuity, a generally canon compliant one at that. This, my day 1 fic and the one I had finished first, is the last one in the chronology. I'm hoping to post the first one in two days (which is the day 6 prompt - Dancing/Goddess Tower - I'm doing both in one fic), and my Soulmate AU fic tomorrow for day 2.
> 
> Anywho, enough of my rambling. Please enjoy!

_Mmm… what… what’s that… in my hair? Fingers?_ Byleth opened his eyes blearily, post-coital haze still heavy in his mind, and looked over at Yuri, who gave him a lazy smile.

“Hey,” Byleth mumbled, smiling and leaning towards Yuri to drop a gentle kiss on his cheek. He wrapped his arms around him, and Yuri shifted as close as he could get, looking up at him.

“Hey,” Yuri replied, his voice languid, fingers still combing slowly through Byleth’s hair. “Sleep now?”

Byleth nodded but made no effort to get out of bed despite there still being a few candles lit to lend to an intimate atmosphere. “I would have to detach myself from you first, and I don’t want to,” he said, snuggling against Yuri as much as possible, arms tightening around him.

Yuri chuckled low in his throat, and then brought his arms up and over Byleth’s shoulders. “Yeah, I know. But those candles aren’t going to blow themselves out,” he replied, his voice playful.

Sighing heavily, Byleth shifted slightly to look over at the offending light sources. “Can’t you just use _wind_?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer because this was far from the first time he’d asked. Predictably, Yuri rolled his eyes dramatically, playing along.

“Would you like me to also risk blowing half the room apart too? I don’t think I really have the sort of concentration required right now for such precision casting,” he responded, shaking his head in amusement. Byleth was moving to get out of bed though, so Yuri pulled his arms back from around him, though Byleth knew he was doing so reluctantly. 

As Byleth went about the room blowing the candles out, he was keenly aware of his husband’s eyes on him. Yuri frequently watched him when he wasn’t particularly occupied with anything, but these particular moments, when Byleth would get out of bed after their lovemaking to blow out the candles, Yuri’s gaze always felt exceptionally intense.

Normally he would pretend not to notice, but, well, he was feeling quite sappy tonight; he very decidedly hadn’t wanted to disentangle himself from Yuri. So, just as he was blowing one of the candles out across from their bed, he turned a bit and locked his eyes right to Yuri’s, plastering a playful grin on his face.

Predictably (Yuri didn’t like being predictable, but he made an exception for Byleth) Yuri’s eyes widened as he realized he’d been caught, and he quickly looked away, letting himself slump back onto the bed as his face flushed.

“Oh?” Byleth inquired, crossing his arms loosely and raising an eyebrow in mock curiosity. “What was that?”

Yuri propped himself up on his elbows and looked back at Byleth, still blushing a bit. For a brief moment, and glanced down, away from Byleth, looking as if he was considering something, but then looked back up. “The candlelight really… hm. You look really good in the candlelight, I mean,” Yuri professed bashfully, closing his eyes as his blush returned in full force. He was clearly embarrassed. Byleth was a bit surprised by the simple admission, and he too felt his face heat up slightly. He rushed to blow out the last two candles to get himself back into bed quickly, sitting up, and pulled Yuri close.

“Babe, hey, you can look at me whenever you want,” Byleth said, aiming for a soothing voice as he put his fingers under Yuri’s chin and tilted his head up. Yuri let him, and then leaned his head against his shoulder.

“Yeah, but… sometimes I feel like I don’t tell you enough. That I like looking at you. You tell me all the time how…”

“Gorgeous? Stunning?” Byleth supplied.

Yuri closed his eyes again as he blushed even more fiercely. “Yeah, that. You tell me a lot, but… I don’t think I tell you enough…” Yuri started, frowning now. “Being that honest about my feelings is still… difficult sometimes… We’ve worked on it a lot but that little voice in the back of my head is still pretty insistent sometimes that I’m not good enough, that I’m just a lie and one day you’re going to figure it out and tell me to leave.” His voice was heavy with the weight of that admission, and Byleth grimaced as he heard it, heard all those painful words.

It was far from his first time hearing the reality of Yuri’s self-loathing, but it didn’t take the sting away from hearing that truth again. “Yuri…”

Yuri looked directly at him then. “It’s okay. I know it’s not true. Doesn’t stop that voice from ringing out in the back of my head sometimes, telling me I don’t deserve your compliments. I tell myself that you’re saying those things because they’re true in your eyes, but I guess some part of me is still uneasy about how… sincere you sound when you say them. And… I guess in some way that makes it hard for me to compliment you. I worry I’ll sound fake, because I’m so used to throwing insincere words at people all the time, to use their desire to be seen in a favourable light against them,” he explained earnestly, running a hand over Byleth’s chest as an emphasis to his words.

“I believe you when you do say it, and it doesn’t matter how frequently it is,” Byleth stressed, smiling lightly. He dropped a gentle kiss on Yuri’s forehead before he continued. “I also know you watch me a lot.”

Yuri frowned a bit at that, but then shook his head lightly. “Yeah, of course you’d notice. Ah well, I can’t help myself,” he said, leaning up to press his lips to Byleth’s. Light kisses, nothing too heated, just actions to back up the words. Byleth knew that these sorts of moments were Yuri’s way of telling Byleth how he felt, because sometimes it was just too hard for him to use words. And that was okay.

When they parted, Byleth pulled him into a tight hug, and Yuri wrapped his arms around him in response, nuzzling the side of his neck. Carefully he let himself fall back onto the bed, gently pulling Yuri back with him. Once they were lying back down, Yuri looked up at Byleth with a small smile on his face. The way Yuri was looking at him, Byleth knew he was running over some thoughts in his head, trying to figure out exactly how to put his thoughts into words.

“I like a lot of things about you, you know… your beautiful eyes, and your handsome face… your strong arms,” Yuri started, hesitating a bit at first, but he charged on, touching Byleth’s face and arms as he listed each. “Your strong muscles.” With a chuckle, he added, “Your nice butt-”

Byleth had been staring at him with a mildly taken aback look, but he couldn’t help but also laugh a bit at the mention of his butt. “I understand what you’re saying. It’s hard for you to talk about your feelings, and that’s okay,” Byleth replied, stroking Yuri’s face gently.

Yuri nodded. “It is, but… I need to remember that as much as your cheesy compliments make me feel awkward, they also feel nice,” he admitted, a bright, albeit sheepish smile on his face. “You’d probably like that too, coming from me. And you deserve to know, even if I have trouble saying it as often as I should. I need to make more of an effort. I can make myself get used to saying it. You already know I mean it, so… if sometimes I have to make myself say it, then I will.” His words lacked his usual spirited confidence, and he carefully watched Byleth’s face for any reaction. The small reminders of the emotional scars Yuri had picked up over the years always made Byleth’s heart catch in his throat, but he tried to keep it off his face as much as possible; Yuri knew how he felt about it, and there was no sense in reminding him every time it came up in a conversation. Instead he channelled those emotions into subtle things, like wrapping his arm around him a little tighter, or squeezing his shoulder.

“That makes sense,” Byleth replied with a nod. “But… don’t force yourself. Don’t make yourself uncomfortable trying to make me feel good… I probably won’t if you don’t feel good about saying it.”

Yuri nodded back, smiling, and then reached down to tug blankets over them. “Sleep,” he muttered, shifting as close to Byleth as he could get before throwing an arm over him and wrapping his legs around Byleth’s right. 

“Yeah, sleep,” Byleth agreed, chuckling. He slowly ran his hand over Yuri’s side a few times as he felt him settling in. “Good night.”

Yuri looked up, blinking drowsily. “Mmm… Good night,” he responded slowly, letting his eyes fall shut. It wasn’t long before Byleth heard his breathing even out, though he laid there considering their conversation for a few more minutes before he closed his own eyes and let unconsciousness claim him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this! Some songs I listened to while writing this (and some of the other fics I'm writing for the event), in case you are curious:
> 
> _Glitter in the Air_ \- Pink  
>  _Stars_ \- Sixx A.M.  
>  _Iris_ \- Goo Goo Dolls  
>  _What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get_ \- Snow Patrol  
>  _Underneath_ \- Sam Tsui ft. Casey Breves  
>  _Love Like You (Original + Reprise)_ \- Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe)
> 
> And that's all for now! Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day, and I hope you come back and read the rest of my content for Yurileth week! :D


End file.
